In 1989 my father and I drove out to rural Illinois to pay a visit to John Coy and view his superb headgear collection. Of course I could not come back empty-handed. John considered this cap to be piped in the shade of orange for Fortification Engineer Officers. It is very well worn and soiled and has a ton of character. He'd had it for about 20 years in his collection and was only willing to part with it because he had finally found another in what he considered to be the same shade of orange. However, the cap is in my judgement an issue cap that was period upgraded to officer. It is definitely a contract manufactured "issue grade" cap like an enlisted cap would be. The officer insignia matches the wear and age of the cap perfectly, so I have no doubt it is a period upgrade, but therefore wouldn't make sense for it to be the branch he considered it to be. John knew more about headgear than I ever will and so I'm very happy with the cap and have kept it all these years. Unfortunately both John and my father are no longer with us today, but I will always have this cap as a memento of a very fascinating day with John being a very gracious host and talking us through a good portion of his collection.
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Great hat.Yes,I too bought many items from John Coy, and miss him at shows.He was always fair on his prices,and would help me with determining a piece's value and authenticity.He always had pretzels to snack on when standing at his booth talking TR items ,and learning from him.He is missed!
PeterComment
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Originally posted by papapanzer View Post
Thanks. Absolutely. John was definitely one of the good guys in this hobby. He contributed heavily to the Angolia/Schlicht book series just to name one, and yet he was always really down to earth and approachable. One of my earliest collecting mentors was very close to John and made the introduction, but with John no introduction was really needed. He would take time to chat with anyone.Comment
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